Bedford Community Church Annual Report
A Look Back at 2021
Here are some of the programitc highlights from the past year. These include some of our favorite events and highlights from our social media platforms. In the past year we saw engagement climb steadily through the first few months of 2021. The launch of our new website, our YouTube channel and our social media accounts helped us to continue to engage with our BCC family and friends regardless of where they were.
Three Goals We Strive To Meet
Assisted by: Heather Zimmer, Michele Nekos & Many Committed Volunteers
Our Children's Discipleship team offers a variety of age-appropriate opportunities for our children ages birth - grade 5 to teach kids about God, provide a safe learning environment where kids can feel free to ask questions and express doubts. A place where kids can encounter a living God. They use a variety of strategies and programs to achieve this goal including Sunday School lessons, games, outreach events, VBS and mini-camps the list goes on. Ms. Melissa and those who serve with her will go whatever distance it takes to help ensure the youngest in our congregation have what they need.
While the year started off with a Sunday School attendance averaging between 15 -20 students, as fall rolled into winter we find ourselves with consistently over 30 students and new families coming each week.
As the number of attendees at our program continues to grow each week. We have openings for people to serve! If you enjoy sharing about the goodness of God, if you enjoy spending time with young ones then serving in Children Discipleship just might be your sweet spot. Click on the link below to contact Ms. Melissa and get started serving right away.
Hi, I'm Cheryl Felmlee, and I live in Valley Cottage in Rockland County. I’ve been at BCC for
20+ years. I received Christ as a child, and following the example of my mother and other
faithful examples [Do you remember your 1 st grade Sunday School teacher? I do], my lifelong
church ministry focus has been on the Christian education of children. At BCC that took the form of
various ministries—substitute and regular Sunday School teacher, children’s ministry director,
serving as a behind the scenes support with VBS and Walk to Bethlehem. But my current and
primary ministry for over 15 years has been in the nursery with the littlest ones in our church.
Children see and pick up clues that lay their foundation for their relationship with God, Christian
values and conduct, and what it means to be with others at church. I have chosen the nursery for
this season of my life so these little ones find a consistent and comfortable person when they
come to the scary door of the nursery, one who they recognize will be there with them so that it
is ok to watch their parents leave. Parents value this too as they entrust us with their children so
ALL can focus on receiving what God and the church has to offer them that morning.
That’s my path. I would really encourage you to choose from our church ministries the one that
seems to be the right size and shape for you to commit--for this year. The opportunities are
endless, and the benefits can be eternal.
Meet Ms Melissa Cancro
Meet Zeb
Let's hear what our kids say they love most about Children's Discipleship here at BCC.
Assisted by: "Papa Ralph" Adrien, Paul Seekircher & Marlon Adrien
This year has been quite wild when it came to doing Youth Ministry. There were many of the same challenges we faced last year through high Covid seasons but God is good and we have found ways to still gather and connect. One of the highlights from 2021 was we rebranded! The students wanted to rally behind a collective name and came up with the name and the logo we have today; Summit.
Each Sunday students in grades 6 - 12, meet for Sunday School during our second service. Many of these students also find themselves attending worship during the first service and on the 5th Sunday, you can find our Youth Students serving throughout the building. Our students' Summit youth group meets currently on Wednesday from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm. If you have or are a student in grades 6 - 12, we want you to know all students are welcome!
Every three years the C&MA (our denomination) holds a youth conference called LIFE. This year we are planning to take students to Orlando, FL for LIFE '22. Click the link below for more information. If you are interested in attending LIFE '22 please contact Andrew.
Summit
Growth Groups launched in the Spring of 2021 and groups met each week for a total of 26 weeks in 2021. Hosts were guided by the COMA method of Bible study to extend the Sunday sermon beyond the end of the service and into a personal study of scripture.
A goal of BCC Growth Groups is to encourage believers to dig into the Word of God for themselves and not rely solely on another person to grow in understanding of Christ. Instead, we can have a personal interaction with God through his written word, and Growth Groups are a great encouragement of accountability to follow through on personal discipleship.
Groups also weekly prayed for one another both in their time together as well as their own alone time with the Lord. Knowing that fellow group members had prayed and were continuing to pray with them was a blessing and encouragement. Many long-term bonds among believers were created.
Meet DeAnna
Here at Bedford Community Church, we believe that worship is a choice, and an opportunity to bring Glory to God. Often times in our weeks we find ourselves running between things so fast that slowing down and stopping to praise God can become something we push off for later. Each week a group of talented musicians prepares on Wednesday nights for our worship services. Under the direction of Jeremiah, they put together a worship experience to help us as a congregation focus on God. They provide a time and space to set aside the busyness of the week, and turn our attention and focus on God.
Jeremiah and Heather together create and provide opportunities for our students of all ages to engage in worship with their peers. Whether it is during VBS when Heather and our youth lead our worship sets, or on Sundays when our Elementary students have their own time of worship. Creating space for our children to worship is another priority for the worship department.
If you are musically inclined, we invite you to reach out to Jeremiah and find a way to use that musical inclination to serve. We are always looking for sound engineers, musicians, video switchers, vocalists, set up teams, etc. If you like music, if music is a way that you enjoy connecting with God, contact Jeremiah.
Meet Jeremiah
When we read through the new testament it is clear to see how personally invested Jesus was in every single interaction he had. He was never distracted or multi-tasking. Jesus took time and had patience to really see people. He noticed them and met them exactly where they were without judgment. This approach allowed Him to care for people really well. It is that model we want to follow as we seek to care for people here at BCC. We want to notice and connect authentically and to build relationships without agendas. Our care of and for each other will grow naturally out of that foundation.
We are always looking for people to help us care. If you like to cook, drive, sit with people, write cards serving alongside us in Congregational Care just might be your sweet spot. One of our big weeks of serving that we participate in is hosting the Emergency Shelter Partnership the last week of January. If you would like more information about serving with us, please contact Lisa Bruno.
Meet Lisa
2021 Deacons: Roger Garrison, Sheila Rhodes, Wendy Morin, Levi Pearson, Amanda Greene, Rick Dorgan, Lisa Dundon, Livia Roman, Tara Bongiorno,
The function of the Deacons is to attend to the physical, material, and emotional needs of people within our congregation and outside in the community at large.
The Deacons help those in need of food and gas cards, prayer partners, supplying gift boxes to the youth who are away at college, delivering meals, driving people to doctor appointments, supplying diapers to the local community center, and many other places of need.
We are the hands of God in our community and beyond. We have helped over 60 people this past year, covering teenagers to families, to widows, to those who are alone, to senior citizens, to local food pantries and community centers.
This year more so than others, we have been faced with the reality that our building is, let's call it, growing in maturity. There were several small projects that needed to be addressed and a few large ones that are proving harder to solve and fix than we anticipated. Here are some of the projects we finished a few we are still addressing from 2021.
Completed in 2021
- Removal of dead trees and trimming of trees in the overflow parking lot
- Clean out of several closets and storage spaces
- Removal of old fire extinguishers and the replacement of new ones
- Stabilized the water treatment system, and constructed a contingency plan
- Addresses some basic heating and cooling issues in our building
- Renegotiated service contracts for our HVAC, Pest Control, Oil, Septic, and other service providers
- Regular landscaping and ground care, along with snow removal
Still in progress
- Finding a permanent fix for our heating and cooling troubles
- Finding a company with the parts, knowledge, and ability to fix our lift
As always thank you to our congregation, if there are things that you notice that need to be looked at, fixed, repaired please reach out to the Trustees. Likewise, if you have skills and experience that you would like to use to help us care for the physical building, please reach out and let us know. We are always looking for people willing to serve the church in this way.
Opportunities to Share Life Together
Reflections on 2021
WHAT'S TO COME IN 2022
Here is the financial report, prepared for you by our Treasurer Bob Ronda. There will be two opportunities for you to ask questions regarding the financial report. Pastor Josh, members of the Elder Board and Bob Ronda will be hosting two zoom calls one on January 25th and one on January 27th, both at 7pm. Check your email for the link.
Throughout the 2021 year we saw great variation in our attendance numbers.
COVID once again presented many challenges for us especially in regards to tracking the number of people who joined us weekly for worship services. From Easter on we have averaged 125 adults in services, We average 20 + children each week in Children's Discipleship, along with additional 10 adults serving. Since the fall, we have been averaging 150+ adults weekly in the service, 30+ children in Children's Discipleship and around 8-10 adults serving in Children's Discipleship as well.
We have gained a few members during the 2021 year, which brings our membership total to 144 people. If you have been attending BCC for a while and would like to know more about Membership or Baptism please reach out to Pastor Josh or Pastor Sarah.
Each year Bedford Community Church members have the chance to vote on Elders, treasurer, assistant treasurer, deacons and other elected officials. Voting will take place, during the annual meeting on January 30th.